Change of Plans
by Little Blue Owl
Summary: Sometimes unexpected things are better - Cross-posted on AO3


AN: This was really more of a writing practice than anything- I wanted to see if I could post Kailette and I hope it went well!

"So," Kairi says, swinging her legs back and forth on top of the chair, careful not to hit Olette, "what do you wanna do?"

"Hmm..." Olette screws up her face in thought, turning around to face Kairi. "I'm not sure!"

"Stay still!" Kairi says, giggling. "You're going to mess up the braid!"

"Okay, okay," she says, turning back around and letting Kairi continue plaiting her hair. It's gotten longer, Kairi notices, unlike her own. She was a little too impatient to deal with long hair on her own, but she misses being able to braid it. "We could take the train all the way down the line and go up to Sunset Terrace, then come back and go to the bistro?"

"Sounds good to me!" Kairi chirps, twisting an elastic into Olette's hair. "And... you're all done!"

Olette runs over to the mirror, turning each way so that her two long braids twirl around her. "They're so cute!" she cries. "You're so much better at this than I am."

"When's the next train?" Kairi asks, pulling out her gummiphone. "It's just about ten now," she says, before hearing a loud chiming in the distance. The bell atop the train station rings ten times, and she laughs. "I guess you didn't need me to tell you that, though."

Olette picks up her little munny pouch, which Kairi still envies so long after first seeing it. "I think we have five minutes," she says, grabbing the other girl's hand in hers, bright green eyes meeting deep blue ones. Kairi feels warmth spread from her heart and up her cheeks. "Let's go!"

And together they dash to the station, hand-in-hand.

She and Olette sprint up the hill and into the station, stopping at the ticket booth so fast they almost crash into each other. "Two for the 10;05, please!"

"Oh, sorry, dears," the elderly clerk says to them. "It just left. That old clock is a couple minutes slow, I'm afraid."

Kairi deflates. There goes that plan. "Thank you anyway, ma'am," she says, turning around to Olette. The other girl looks contemplative, and the two sit down on a bench inside the station, watching the other trains come and go. Kairi gradually lets her breathing slow down.

"So..." she starts, still panting a little. "What now?" Olette just watches her for a second, and Kairi raises an eyebrow. "What? Is something wrong?"

Olette lets out one chuckle, then another, then she's completely bent over in fits of giggles. Kairi doesn't know what to say. "It's just- you're supposed to be this great warrior hero, right? This hill seemed to be a pretty big challenge for you!"

Kairi tries to scowl, but she doesn't think it comes out right because Olette just laughs harder. "Fine, okay, I'm still terrible at running, but I can handle a Keyblade just fine!" Olette's laughter tapers off, and she shrugs.

"I guess we'll have to think of something else to do, but it's not so bad. I think we've already tried everything at the bistro anyway," she says, tapping her foot.

An idea starts to form in Kairi's head, and it would be fun, but... is she really supposed to?

...Does it really matter? Olette already knows about everything, it's not like another trip in the Gummiship will make a difference.

"What if... we took a trip?" Kairi starts, biting one side of her lip. "To... somewhere else?"

A grin slowly spreads across the brunette's face. "Let's go!"

—

It takes them another twenty minutes to get back to the Gummiship, and another to decide where to go, but it's worth it once Kairi sets it down (a little rockily, she could really use a little more practice). The view of miles and miles of open ocean, with a spiraling white palace overlooking the shore... it's absolutely breathtaking.

"Do you like it?" she asks, turning to Olette to see the latter's mouth hanging open. Kairi giggles. "You haven't even seen the best part yet. Come on!" she says, climbing up out of the ship, and offering a hand down to help Olette, too.

The other girl still looks shocked as she scans the vast stretches of water. "I've been to the beach, but... I've never seen anything like this."

"Sora showed me this place a little while back," Kairi says, stepping down from the ship and onto a grassy cliff overlooking the sprawling castle beneath them. "The princess who lives there, Ariel, she has the most beautiful voice I've ever heard, and a whole room full of treasures from all over the world. She's incredible. But that's not the coolest part." Kairi kicks off her sandals and start climbing down the cliff, stopping at a ledge about halfway down. "Watch this!"

And she steps forward, elegantly diving into the water. It hits her hard and cold, and she can feel the magic curling up over her. She pulls her hair back with her hand and emerges, throwing her head back and pulling what would be her feet up behind her, revealing a scaly purple tail and fins. "Tah-dah!"

Olette scrambles down the cliffside and into the sand, gasping as she gets closer. "Oh my stars..."

"She was a mermaid!" Kairi exclaims, diving back under and leaping up out of the water to flip. She flips up to the surface and emerges on legs, giggling as Olette claps.

"I can't believe this! It's amazing!" Olette says, and she helps Kairi to her feet. "You were a mermaid!"

"Thanks to a little bit of friendly magic!" She wrings out her short red hair and pink dress, which is inexplicably soaked, but she doesn't think too much about it. Who cares about wet clothes when you got to breathe underwater to get them?

"You're going to have to get me some of that magic sometime," Olette says, eyes still wife. "That's just so incredible."

"Do you want to go meet Ariel?" Kairi asks, and she laughs as Olette nods aggressively.

"Yes, yes, I would love to meet a real life former mermaid!" she squeaks, and so Kairi takes her hand and leads her up to the palace.

—

They end up staying for lunch at the palace, where Olette listens intently to every word Ariel says, letting the princess take her around the building to all the books and crannies. By the time time they get back to the ship, Kairi's sure Olette must be too exhausted to do anything else.

She's wrong.

"Is there anywhere else we could go?" she asks immediately, and Kairi grins.

"I can think of a place!"

When they land on a tall, jutting sea island covered with wild trees and vibrant flowers, Olette is glued to the window.

"Where are we now?" she asks, and Kairi buzzed with excitement.

"It's called Neverland!"

—

Tinkerbell finds them only a minute after they've stepped off the Gummiship, floating up to Kairi and landing on her nose. Her tiny feet tickle Kairi's skin.

"Hello, Tink!" she says, and the little fairy chimes in greeting. She turns to Olette, who looks on in disbelief, but shakes herself to polite stick out a hand. "This is my friend Olette!"

Tink examines Olette's extended hand in curiosity, flying up around her face stopping in front of her. Finally, she nods, giving Olette a tiny smile. Olette grins back.

"It's nice to meet you, Tink!" she says, and Tinkerbell floats up above them. Kairi looks up at her.

"Tinkerbell, do you think you could help teach my friend how to fly?" she asks, and Tink nods her tiny head, fluttering over Olette and shaking tiny golden powder over her. Olette sneezes, and Tink laughs like a little bell.

"What is this?" she asks, looking at her twinkling hands. "And fly?"

Kairi nods. "Think of the happiest thought you can. You have one?"

Olette scrunches her eyes closed, and slowly starts to nod. "I do. I'm up on the clock tower with all my friends. We got the last sea salt ice creams from the stand that day, and the sunset seemed prettier than usual. Why?"

But even as she asks, her feet start to lift off the ground, coming up a few inches of the ground. Olette shrieks, then laughs. "Oh my gosh! I'm flying!"

Kairi joins in, jumping off the grass to join her. "You can fly!"

"I can fly!" She says, and they laugh. "We can fly!"

Tink shoos them off then, and Kairi takes Olette's hand. "Come on," she says, "you can see so much if you go up high!"

Olette intertwines their fingers and lets herself float up in the air again, higher and higher until they can see the cliffs and waterfalls and improbably bright flowers all around them. "This is incredible..." she says, and zooms forward, flipping somersaulting in the air. "I love this place!"

"If we just go over here," Kairi starts, you can go see the mermaid lagoon. "Look how purple the rocks are. Have you ever seen anything like it?"

"Never," Olette says, pushing through the wind and laughing. "I've never seen anything like any of this, ever. You're amazing."

Kairi bites her lip and tries to suppress a grin. "Do you want to go see the pirate ships?"

—

It's sunset by the time they board the ship again, but Kairi's not quite finished yet. She has one last idea.

"I have one last stop, if you aren't tired of me yet," she says.

"Definitely not." And she looks it- bright eyes and a big smile, Olette looks like she won't sleep for weeks after this.

"Okay, hold on!" And Kairi grips the handles a little too tightly, and turns a little too sharply, but at least the soft white mounds take the brunt of the landing. "We're here!"

As soon as she steps off the ship, she regrets it a little. She's certainly not dressed for the weather, but Olette looks excited nonetheless.

"There's so much snow," she says, digging her fingers in it and letting it fall through. Flakes are drifting all around them, and warm light is spilling through windows in houses dotting the hills all around them. "Where are we?"

Kairi leans forward conspiratorially. "Well, don't tell anyone, but that big factory up ahead? That's Santa's workshop."

Olette looks at her. "Shut up."

"One hundred percent the truth. I don't wanna bother him so close to Christmas, but maybe, just maybe, I can set up a meeting sometime. In the meantime..." she says, leaning down sneakily and rolling up a ball of white in her hands, "there's some more things we can do here!" And she launches the projectile into Olette's shoulder, breaking into a million tiny flakes as it hits her. In her tee shirt and capris, she's not dressed right for this either, but no one's around to see them, so Kairi isn't too worried.

"Oh, it's on!" Olette says, packing a hard snowball in her hands and tossing it just an inch too far to the left.

"Missed me!" Kairi teases, immediately before taking one to the face. "Never mind."

Olette laughs triumphantly, rolling out of the way from another shot. "Come on, Keyblade wielder!"

"Hyah!"

—

One hit to stomach, one taken to the legs, several near misses, and an accidental headshot later, they've collapsed into the snow, exhausted and giggling.

"This is amazing. Have I mentioned that this is amazing?" Olette says. "So much better than going on the train in Twilight Town."

"Mmm, I like Twilight Town," Kairi says, turning back to the other girl. "But I did have a lot of fun."

She turns back to the sky, the stars twinkling in the night above them, and sighs. "We should probably get back," Olette says, and Kairi shoves herself up, offering Olette a hand.

"Time to go home?"

"Time to go home."

—

The ride back feels longer because of how cold they are. Kairi spends five minutes brushing snow off the floor, and ten trying to find blankets to bundle up in.

"Sorry I didn't tell you to bring a coat, but it was kind of a spur of the moment decision." She puts an arm around Olette to let the other girl squirm in further. They're both shivering, but Kairi can't even remember the last time she had this much fun.

"It's okay. I'm always up for a spontaneous snowball fight. We don't get enough snow back home."

"Me neither," Kairi says, "or any, really," and they snort at the thought of the Destiny Islands covered in snow.

The console beeps to let Kairi know they've reached their destination, and she has her best landing of the day gently on the floor of the woods. The sun is still shining through the gaps in the tall pines here, late as it is, and when Olette steps out, the light hits her lighting up her cheeks, already flushed red from the cold. Olette's hair is already halfway out of the braid Kairi put it in that morning, and there's water marks all over her clothes, but she's never looked so pretty to Kairi.

"I'll walk you back, if you want," she offers, and silently Olette lets Kairi take her hand. Their arms swing a little all the way through the tunnel and back to town, onto the now-deserted plaza.

Kairi looks around guiltily. "I guess it's later than I thought. I hope your family isn't worried."

Olette giggles. "I don't mind. I've been out later before with Hayner and Pence, looking into some phony mysteries. I can climb up to my window and not wake anyone up."

"You sure?"

"Of course! Besides, I, um," Olette stutters a little, gaze shifting down to her feet before returning to Kairi's face. There's a light blush on her cheeks, and Kairi's smile melts off her face. "I had a lot of fun today. Even if I get in trouble, I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"Oh," Kairi says, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "We should do this again sometime soon. There's so many places you still haven't seen."

Olette gives Kairi a little smile, shy and sweet. "I'd like that," she says, and tentatively leans forward to press a peck to Kairi's lips. Kairi's face flushes red, but she summons all her courage and leans back in to give Olette a proper kiss. It's short and soft but it feels perfect after the day they've had together. Olette melts a little under the touch, and when they step back, they're both blushing hard.

"Umm... say hi to Sora and Riku for me," Olette says, and smiles.

"Say hi to Pence and Hayner, too," Kairi adds.

Olette turns to dash off into the night, but stops a few feet away and turns back around. "And I really would like to do this again sometime," she says, smiling just a little, before disappearing around the corner.

Kairi stands there for a few more minutes, watching the empty plaza, and gently presses her fingers to her lips. She'd like that, too.

AN: Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it!


End file.
